The Calabash was set up just over 25 years ago by Englishman Leo Garbutt, with the aim of providing the highest standard of personal service in the Caribbean, and it is now seen as one of Grenada’s most luxurious boutique hotels. With only 30 suites and five villas, it has a very relaxed and intimate feel, and the Garbutt family continue to manage the hotel in a meticulous and hands-on way. The Calabash is especially famous for its outstanding cuisine, with the superb dining at the Rhodes Restaurant — overseen by Gary Rhodes in person — enhanced by the torch illumination of the restaurant at night, and accompanied by solo saxophone. What’s more, for lunch there is another acclaimed restaurant, the Bash by Marc B, for casual beach dining.

The 30 suites are attractively arranged in a horseshoe shape around the delightful gardens, and have dramatic views over the sea — all have whirlpool baths, and some have plunge pools as well. The villas are all individual in style and very intimate, with private pools, and one of the best-known features of the Calabash is that all guests, in suites or villas, have breakfast cooked to order and served on their own private terrace or balcony. The elegant and stylish setting of the hotel, and the very friendly and helpful attitude of the staff, make it a popular venue for weddings, and there is a wedding coordinator to help make the most of this romantic backdrop.